From Land Rover guru John Middleton: Picked up a 1984 Land Rover 90 that was an insurance write off after apparently being in a building fire. It runs and drives. We are resurrecting as a 90 pickup.
After cutting out some rot and welding in some new frame sections we installed the replacement rear bed. It hauled its first load of hay.
Author Archives: Steve Mays
The next ‘new’ Bronco at your Ford dealer could be an old one
(From CARBUZZ.COM) Soon, classic SUV fans might be able to go to their local Ford dealer and drive away in a first-generation Bronco restomod. The buyer would even have the choice between having a modern V8 or a dual-motor electric powertrain. The upgraded Bronco builder, Kindred Motorworks, met with potential partner showrooms at the National Automobile Dealers Association conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, to expand the availability of its products.
Kindred Motorworks sells its combustion-powered Bronco restomod starting at $199,000. They come with a Ford Coyote 5.0-liter V8 making 460 horsepower. The engine hooks up to a 10-speed automatic transmission with an Atlas II transfer case, a Dana 44 front differential, and a Ford 9.0-inch rear differential with 35-spline axles. It also has power steering and four-wheel disc brakes.
Inside, there’s hand-stitched leather upholstery, heated front seats, a rearview camera, and a touchscreen infotainment screen that supports Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Bluetooth. In short, the old off-roader comes equipped with just about everything you’d find in a new one, save for driver assists.
The body looks just like a classic Bronco but with some modern updates. The upgrades include LED headlights and retractable side steps. The doors are still removable, too. The options include a $15,000 hardtop and $1,200 for ceramic window tint. There’s also a $15,000 Trail Package that includes a Warn winch, different front and rear bumpers, a tow hitch, and a tire carrier.
Ford Bronco
Six weeks ago I ready to buy a 2003 Honda Element. I was pretty jazzed up about this 23 year old car. On the day I was supposed write the check, the seller called to say he couldn’t find the title and it might take months to get a duplicate (?!) Hmm.
I dropped by the local Honda dealership to see if they could find one. Nothing int he dealer network for Honda Elements (they stopped making them in 2011) but the salesman found one on Facebook Marketplace. I don’t do FB but friends messaged the seller asking him to get in touch. Nothing.
This was my Fuck It moment. The Universe was clearly telling me it was time to turn the page on old, used vehicles. I decided to do the unthinkable. Buy a new car.
To make a long post a little shorter I decided to buy a Ford Bronco and my buddy Paul Bandelier offered to introduce me to Judy, his favorite sales person at the local Ford dealership.
They didn’t have any two-door Broncos (my only must-have) but a nearby dealer had one in a color that Paul loved so we did the deal. It has some off-road features I didn’t think I needed (huge tires) but Paul and Mr. Wolf insisted on.
As I write this, I’ve had the Bronco for less than 48 hours. Can only describe this as a “life changing” experience. As I’ve done with my other vehicles, I’ll share this adventure here in coming months. But this is clearly a turning of the page in my automotive life. I’m selling the Land Rover but keeping the pickup and the Jeep. But the Bronco will be my daily driver, leaving the pickup for hauling big stuff and the Jeep for warm weather fun.
My last new vehicle was the Mini Cooper in 2011. Twenty-five years ago. So I’ll be in ATS (automotive technology shock) for a while. Picture a New Guinea native who has never seen a white man taking his first ride on a Boeing 777. I am (delightfully) overwhelmed. Watch this space.
I deleted my ChatGPT account today
[click through to post to see comment/update]
I’ve been playing with ChatGPT for more than two years. I’ve shared a bunch (143) of those “conversations” here. Initially, I planned to drop back from the $20 a month Pro plan to the free version. But decided to go nuclear.
I’ve been using Perplexity more and find Google’s Gemini as good or better than ChatGPT. But the tipping point was probably OpenAI’s decision to start selling ads on their low-end plans. The other AI companies might follow suit and I’ll probably ditch them if and when.
Anthropic (the company behind Claude) is having some fun with this in an ad that will run during Sunday’s Super Bowl. (Watch on YouTube) The company says there are several dangers with including ads in chatbot conversations, including potential bias and incentivizing chatbots to keep users in conversations for longer periods.
Consider a concrete example. A user mentions they’re having trouble sleeping. An assistant without advertising incentives would explore the various potential causes—stress, environment, habits, and so on—based on what might be most insightful to the user. An ad-supported assistant has an additional consideration: whether the conversation presents an opportunity to make a transaction […]
Such ads would also introduce an incentive to optimize for engagement—for the amount of time people spend using Claude and how often they return. These metrics aren’t necessarily aligned with being genuinely helpful. The most useful AI interaction might be a short one, or one that resolves the user’s request without prompting further conversation.
So, you ask, are you going to stop using LLM’s all together? Doubtful. They’re just too useful. And the technology is going to be everywhere. (see my previous post on The Agentic iPhone)
If these AI tools had been around in 2002 when I started this blog, it would be a very different creature today. They know more and they write better. Maybe it’s like long division or cursive writing. I worked to hard to learn those skills and I’d hate to lose them. Don’t want some AI writing my blog even if it’s better at it. And, yes, Gemini and Perplexity get mentioned here frequently so torching ChatGPT is mostly symbolic.
The agentic iPhone
Last month Apple announced a partnership with Google that will mark a fundamental shift in the iPhone architecture. The integration of Gemini into iOS means the system is pivoting from a collection of apps to an agentic operating system. It turns the iPhone into a more powerful cognitive lever, but it demands you trust the “black box” more than ever before. I prompted Gemini to show me what that might look like. Excerpts below, the full thread here)
I asked how a new, more powerful iPhone might change the way I write or research my blog posts:
When the operating system moves from being a “file cabinet” to an “active participant,” the boundary between your thoughts and the machine’s suggestions begins to blur.
- The Loss of Serendipity: When the AI “fetches” the exact answer, you miss the accidental discovery of a different, unrelated factoid in the “wrong” folder. The “digital twin” optimizes for efficiency, but creativity often thrives on inefficiency.
- The Echo Chamber of One: If Gemini is trained on your “Personal Context,” it will get very good at sounding like you. There is a real risk that your blog posts will start to feel like they’ve been “laundered” through an AI that is simply reflecting your own style back at you, stripping away the rough edges of original thought.
- The “Privacy vs. Utility” Trap: To get these benefits, you have to let the “Campos” agent index your “private thoughts.” You’re essentially trading the sanctity of your “unrecorded” mind for a more powerful cognitive lever.
I’m sure I’ll find some uses for the new iOS but writing my blog posts won’t be one of them. Near the end of the thread Gemini gives specific instructions for how to disable some of these features.